Facebook, the Antiques Roadshow and eBay all rolled into one: The social network for second hand goods

Provenance: Annie Lennox at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday in Hyde Park. Her dress has been donated for sale with its history recorded using the Tales of Things web project

It's creator calls it a mix of Facebook, the Antiques Roadshow and eBay.

Internet pioneers have developed a way of linking objects to pages on the web, allowing the buyers of second-hand goods a way of finding out the provenance of their purchases.

It means that a buyer of, for example, a second-hand ring can find out about its previous owners, how they came to possess it, and how they felt about it.

The concept works through the use of quick response codes, the large barcode-like squares that have been appearing on adverts across the country in recent years.

A quick scan of the code with a compatible smartphone brings up the webpage associated with that item where users can post their comments and memories.

Andrew Hudson-Smith and his team at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London are behind the project to build a social networking site of objects called Tales of Things.

'It's like leaving a living museum,' Mr Hudson-Smith told the Sunday Times. 'We're aiming to trace every object from the cradle to the grave to add life to objects so that our stories can live on in our things for future generations to find.'

The charity Oxfam has already road-tested the technology and plans to roll it out to 20 of its shops by next year.

Shoppers will be able to scan QR codes attached to second-hand products and watch videos or listen to audio tracks recorded by their former owners.